Melodies of Life
Once upon a time, there was a small bustling city named Presov. It was filled with vibrant colours and people from all walks of life. Within this city lived an old man named Anton. Despite his age, Anton had an undying spirit of youth and a heart brimming with love. Anton conducted a little flower shop that he inherited from his father. The shop had a charm of its own, it held an aura that attracted everyone passing by.
Anton’s day started with him watering the flowers, making bouquets for regular customers and arranging the shop timely. He knew all kinds of flowers, their names, their smells, and their significance in life. He never sold flowers; he sold emotions. For him, each flower held an emotion that he was conveying from one person to another.
Living across his shop was Lily, a deaf girl with sparkling eyes who loved to dance. Every morning, she used to pass by Anton’s shop on her way to dance practice. Anton found a silent muse in Lily. Despite not being able to hear, she comprehended the world in her way. Anton often noticed her sensing the aroma of the flowers in his shop, closing her eyes, and swaying.
He started to learn sign language to communicate with Lily. As time passed, he could converse with her seamlessly. Lily liked Anton’s warm smile and gentleness. She gifted him a deaf aid once, which became the means of communication for Anton with his ears, while Lily became the voice. Over time, Anton and Lily developed a bond beyond words.
One day, Anton noticed a wilting Lily. Her sparkling eyes lost some shimmer, her dance lost the rhythm, and she started missing her routines. Anton confronted Lily one day. She unveiled that she was suffering from a terminal illness and didn’t have much time left.
Upon hearing this, Anton stood speechless. He was filled with sorrow but felt determined to fill her remaining days with happiness. He decided to celebrate Lily’s dream - to hold an exhibition of her dance. He went ahead, collecting funds, reaching out to every corner of the city, and inviting everyone for her performance. Meanwhile, he took care of Lily and kept her spirits high.
The day of the performance arrived, and the entire city stood witnessing the spectacle. Lily danced on the stage, not to the rhythm of sounds but to the rhythm of life. With each step she took, each lead she made, she seemed to breathe life into the stage. When she finished, there were tears in everyone’s eyes. They were not of sympathy but of overwhelming admiration for her courage and beauty.
The city stood to applaud Lily's performance, and Anton felt a rush of pride. Lily, with all her might, gave her best performance till date. That night, Anton gifted her a bouquet.
Not all flowers have a fragrance; Lily remembered Anton's words written in a note attached to the bouquet. Lily looked at the flowers then at Anton, she understood the unsaid, that love was the bouquet of life, which yet remained without a perfect metaphor.
In the end, after Lily's death, Anton immortalized her in his heart, and the city remembered her as a dancing lily, an epitome of strength and courage.
Every flower in Anton's shop started to possess a stronger significance; each became a symbol of life intertwined with death, of love that breathed beyond human existence. He understood that there was no end and no beginning; it was just a melody that continued to play—the melody of life.
The city of Presov was filled with more colours, more life, and more stories. These stories resonated in each corolla, each petal, and its aroma that diffused in the air. Anton lived, Lily danced, and the city breathed in the melodies of life, every day, every moment.